03 April 2009
 
The "law" is a fascinating topic.  When I was young, I read many dozens of books written by lawyers.  When the vignette linked below landed on my desk, it conjured memories of stories about American trials wherein wives accused husbands of rape.  Yet often the courts did not recognize that it was legally possible for a husband to rape his wife.  This was America.

02 April 2009

Several readers have forwarded this important story.  Thank you.

If FOX is right and the government is wrong (not surprising), this will be a feather in FOX's cap! 

Jingle all the Way

1 April 2009

Hidden compartments don’t mean much to man’s best friend.  This working puppy found enough Emulite to kill hundreds of people.  Needless to say, the soldiers and contractors treat these dogs like royalty.  There is no exaggeration whatsoever in saying that the working dogs are treated far better than our soldiers.  (Not that anyone complains, but it is humorous for everyone to see that the dogs get treated even better than Air Force personnel, who are treated 2x better than soldiers, who are treated 5x better than Marines.  That means bomb dogs are treated at least 10x better than Marines.)

2 April 2009

President Obama's new plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan (AfPak) was eagerly anticipated. I first reported from Afghanistan in early 2006 that the war was being lost, so any new plan to address the problems is at least three years late. This is not Mr. Obama's fault, but it is his problem.

During his March 27 announcement, Mr. Obama said that critical assets were diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq. That's true, but it's not the only reason why Afghanistan is in trouble. For a variety of reasons - history, geography, people - Iraq is remarkably different than AfPak.

Please Click to view entire article in the Washington Times.

Please give the gift of independent reporting. Your gift goes far and is used for transport, lodging, living expenses, satellite communications and for repairing and replacing gear that fails due to the rigors of the battlefields.  Millions of people, in more than a hundred countries, see these photos and words.  Your generosity goes very far, and is greatly appreciated.

1 April 2009 

President Obama announced a goal to stand up 216,000 Afghan security forces by 2011. This falls far short of assessments by our own military that a security force of 400,000 is needed to secure Afghanistan.

Today there are 80,000 Afghan police and 82,000 soldiers in various stages of readiness. Obama's aim to train 54,000 new soldiers and police in 33 months, which equals about 1,600 new recruits a month, is less than bold. At this rate, approximately a dozen years and hundreds of billions of dollars will be needed to reach 400,000. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking.

31 March 2009

I am very proud of the British units I was in combat with in Iraq: 2 Rifles, 4 Rifles, Queen's Royal Lancers, Duke of Lancasters, 2 Para (Afghanistan).

This writer would return to combat with any of these units at the drop of a hat.  Big politics is one thing, but these soldiers are something that the United Kingdom should be proud of.  As an American, I am proud to know them.  I'll prove my point by contacting the British Army right now to request they take me back with them in combat.

31 March 2009

Gary Sinise has gotten personally involved with helping to promote this movie.  I am in Asia (Thailand/Singapore/Laos/Malaysia) and have not yet seen it, but the reviews are outstanding.  I spoke at length yesterday with the Director/Producer Jake Rademacher, and I asked Mr. Rademacher to send a schedule of film screenings. 

30 March 2009

Nobody seems to dispute that tons of weapons apparently are flowing into Mexico.  A big question is, where are they coming from?  The only casualties assured to occur are those people who are shot by the real guns from the questionable sources, and the truth.  There are almost certainly people within the U.S. government who would fit the facts to fit their agendas, and there are vast numbers of citizens who would do the same.  Iraq and Afghanistan provide stark international reminders of this on the global scale.  It seemed that every cranny of government and civilian political organizations, overtly lied or spackled over inconvenient facts that did not lead to pre-determined outcomes for Iraq, in particular.

29 March 2009

The following story represents just one of the great crevasses opened by torture.  This is serious business.  Some previously high-placed American officials could be forced to restrict international travel, or face arrest and imprisonment in foreign jails:

29 March 2009

How many of the guns in Mexico are coming from the United States?  Good question that will prove extremely contentious if the number of weapons proves to be high.

27 March 2009

President Obama has just spoken on AfPak.  I closed my eyes and listened closely to his words, coming via the BBC from the other side of the world.

The President's words were disappointing.  He talked about our goal to reach a force level of 134,000 Afghan soldiers and 82,000 police by 2011.  This is not even in the neighborhood of being enough.  Further, the increase of 21,000 U.S. troops is likely just a bucket of water on the growing bonfire.  One can only expect that sometime in 2010, the President will again be forced to announce another increase in U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

27 March 2009

Many of us are waiting -- not so patiently -- for President Obama's announcement of the new strategy on AfPak.  No matter which road we chose, it will be long and filled with liquid, political mirages.

Carlotta Gall has emerged as a premier voice on AfPak.  I've noticed over time that she seems to be ahead of the curve on reporting, and so when her name appears, my eyes focus on her words.  It remains popular to bash the New York Times, but when it comes to war reporting they are tough to match.  Alternative media sources seem to be mostly avoiding serious firsthand Afghanistan reporting.  Have any non-active duty dedicated-bloggers spent a year there yet?  I'm currently reading through the latest of about $600 worth of books on the fight -- waiting quietly in the back of the room, for today --before the rough journey ahead.  Unfortunately it looks like Mexico might fill the off-seasons from AfPak.

26 March 2009

Helicopter Goes Down in Iraq...and Who Comes to the Rescue?

26 March 2009

General (ret.) Barry McCaffrey continues to sound cautions and alarms on Mexico.  Clearly he loves the place and doesn't want to see it fall apart.  For their sake or for ours.  I would highly suggest that journalists reach out to McCaffrey through his website.  His latest comments were published on Nationaljournal.com.

Interesting to note that apparently tons of weapons are flowing into Mexico from the United States.  During the Iraq war, weapons were/are coming from Syria and Iran.  Many Americans wanted to attack those countries for aiding the weapons flows, or even just turning a blind eye.  Now with Afghanistan: weapons flood in from Pakistan.  What about our country in regard to Mexico?

25 March 2009

Gary has been supporting troops for more than two decades not just in word, but in a long stream of deeds.  Our troops post his photos on headquarters walls in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I recall during the darkest days of the Iraq war, Gary Sinise and Laura Hillebrand were helping big-hearted American donors to send millions of dollars worth of supplies to Iraqi kids.  During stints between the war, I even flew out to Kansas City just to visit the warehouse of Operation Iraqi Children, and there were pallets upon pallets of those same supplies that I had been seeing soldiers distribute to smiling Iraqi kids.  Americans at home were a big part of relieving the plight of those children, and helping turn the war around, and Gary and Laura were important “go betweens.”

24 March 2009

Interesting that Mr. Bowden and I have separately come to similar conclusions on torture and related topics.  Different, but similar enough.

23 March 2009

Gary Sinise is an incredible American.  We were swapping some emails over the past week and I saw this article about his latest support for our troops:  Commentary: We can't do enough for our veterans.

Gary mentioned to me that he will be heading back to Afghanistan this year (that’s predictable!), and I’ll try to take a quick break from slogging around the battlefields to see Gary while he’s there.  Gary Sinise and Bruce Willis are among the few true movie stars who courageously supported our troops, even when Hollywood insiders were telling me that actors could lose jobs for supporting the troops.  Laura Ingraham, during one of our live interviews, once asked about my Hollywood connections.  Laura caught me by surprise and I denied connections.  By that, I was really saying I don’t hang out in Hollywood, but technically my answer to Laura was incorrect.

21 March 2009

It's almost certainly true that most Americans want to see President Obama succeed in making peace with Iran.  The prospect seems sadly laughable, though.  Not with the current Iranian leadership.  Everything about them speaks of deceit and treachery.  Some people are just bad, mad, or both.

20 March 2009

Before I lived in Germany and Poland for about six years, the Army taught me German and some Polish.  And so there were countless conversations with older Germans and Poles, and I heard earfuls of stories.  The older Germans were very respectful toward our "Greatest Generation," but pretty much hated the Russians because of their brutality.  The theme nearly always drifted to the very humane treatment we afforded German prisoners, while the Russians killed them off.  We even had German prisoners working on farms, and after the war, many Germans returned and married American women!  But the Poles didn't like the Germans or the Russians because of the very same reasons.  They had been mistreated, but the Poles have great respect for America because we treated them well.  Americans are extremely welcome in Poland, but that place sure is cold.

20 March 2009

A soldier emailed me with a surprise.  I did not know that Gary Sinise was involved with a film about soldiers, but you know if Gary is involved, the movie will be top-quality and accurate.